NFL Picks: Predicting The Winners In Week 14

We all know what the Jets can do -- play solid defense and run the football. They couldn’t do that last week against New England but, then again, the Patriots are the hottest team in the NFL right now. Beating the Dolphins will be a much easier task.

The Dolphins have been the model of inconsistency this season. Since Oct. 4 they’ve lost then won, lost then won, and so on. They lost last week so that trend would suggest a victory over New York but we don’t see that happening. The Jets, coming off of a loss, should be able to take care of business against the Dolphins.

That Patriots offense will go against the third ranked defense in the NFL. The Bears seem to be flying under the radar because people (like me) seem to be waiting for them to lose every week -- yet they keep on winning.

The Patriots are three point road favorites and I don’t think you can pick against them right now -- not with the last four games and especially not with what they did to the Jets. Take the Patriots who will win this game by at least a touchdown.

The Falcons are among the most consistent teams in the NFL. They run the ball well, and pass it efficiently for the league’s sixth ranked offense. Their defense? Also top 10 coming in at No. 7 in the NFL. They do a lot of things right.

The Falcons are heavy favorites according to NFL odds which say they’re a 7.5 point road favorite. The Falcons will likely get to 11 wins this weekend and one step closer to winning the NFC South.

The Packers are simply the better team. They have the seventh ranked offense and first ranked defense. They’ve won five of their last six and all four of their losses this year have come by three points. You can make an easy case that this team should be 10-2 or 11-1.

The Lions? They’ve dropped five in a row -- only two of which were blowouts -- and have scored more than 20 points just once in that stretch. The Lions can score some points, there’s no doubt about that, but they’re far from the consistency necessary to think they can beat the Packers.

I know, I know. Buffalo has two wins. Of their 10 losses, six are by one score, Of those six, four came by three points. This team will hang with you. I’m not saying they’re going to win -- they’ve shown that’s a problem -- but over the last two months Buffalo has been competitive in nearly every game.

Buffalo’s strength comes from Chan Gailey’s offense which has done a lot with very little. They’re not the mos talented group and they make mistakes but given the opportunity they can put up a lot of points. The Browns have the 12th ranked defense so they’re going to want to slow this thing down and utilize their running backs as much as possible.

Unsurprisingly, the Steelers are huge home favorites, currently at nine points, according to NFL odds. There’s really no reason to think they won’t win this game, especially looking at their resume this season, which includes some impressive wins.

The Bengals, like most poor teams, throw the ball a lot because they’re playing from behind. That’s resulted in some impressive numbers for WR Terrell Owens, but it hasn’t helped the team win. I suspect we’ll see the same situation this time around with the Steelers building and the Bengals passing to come back.

The Jaguars have the league’s 24th ranked defense and 17th ranked rush defense so stopping the Raiders running game will clearly be a priority.

The Jaguars are 4.5 point home favorites according to NFL odds and I’m going to stick with them as the winner. I do think this game is closer -- more like a field goal -- but Jacksonville will slow down Oakland’s run game and win this one.

The Colts are 3.5 point road favorites, according to NFL odds.

Though they’ve lost three in a row, I’m going to stick with the Colts as the winner here. They’ve been too consistent over the years to think they’ll continue to tank at the end of the season. Stick with the Colts.